Stevie Wonder, Fifty Years in the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder's great double album turned fifty yesterday. It still doesn't fit into one sitting.

By Rafi Mercer

Yesterday, a Stevie Wonder record turned fifty.

Not a small one. Songs in the Key of Life came out on 28 September 1976 as two LPs, a bonus seven-inch and a lyric booklet, after Motown had waited two years for it. It went straight to number one in America, produced two more number-one singles in "I Wish" and "Sir Duke", and won Wonder his third Grammy for Album of the Year.

Fifty years. I had to say it twice.

I've had it on this week, early, the way I listen to most things. It's still too much for one sitting, and that's still the point. A baby laughs in the bath. A roll call of jazz heroes. Poverty, faith, and a love promised until the end of everything, all on the same record, all arriving at full weight.

The detail that stays with me is a small one. The last session ended at 4:54 in the morning, and the bassist Nathan Watts shouted out the time. Fifty years on, that moment has come back with four unreleased songs from those sessions, which Wonder put out yesterday, mixed by the album's original engineers. This autumn he's playing the whole record live, starting in Birmingham on 13 October.

So if you have the best part of two hours and a quiet room, this is the week. Start at the beginning. Don't skip.

Somewhere just before five, I'll be listening too.

How old is Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life?

Fifty. Stevie Wonder released it on 28 September 1976, and it turned fifty on 28 September 2026.

What was released for the 50th anniversary?

A four-song EP of previously unreleased recordings from the original sessions: "It's Easier," "My Life Story of Love," "I Can See the Sun in Late December" and "I'm Into Livin'." There is also a tour on which Wonder plays the album in full, opening in Birmingham on 13 October, with UK dates in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

What is The Listening Club?

The Tracks & Tales membership where, on the last Sunday of each month, members around the world gather online to hear one album played in full.

Rafi Mercer writes about the spaces where music matters. For more stories from Tracks & Tales, subscribe.

Every month, The Listening Club gathers around the world. Join here.